El Tapatio

In town craving some Mexican and a local directs me here. Interior is nothing to rave about but I love a whole in the wall with incredible food so I’m not deterred. We sit and all I can smell is the bathrooom… not a good sign. We switch tables (better).
The local I’m with brings us menus: «The food is great but the service is sh*t.» Interesting. But she has stayed loyal to the food so it must be something special.
Salsa and chips are fresh and delicious (now we’re talking’!). The local and my friend order a pork burrito and can’t stop raving about. I order a combo of tamale, burrito, and enchilada — they all taste the same. The plate was shredded chicken encased in different style corn wraps, puddled in sauce that was more Italian than Mexican, and a sprinkle of cheese. Guac? Lettuce? Anything green? Nope.
Disapointed but full, I basically walk into the kitchen to get the attention of a server. Mind you, we haven’t seen anyone since they dropped off the food. I bring my credit card along with me to avoid another wait. And on my way back I’m smacked in the face with the smell of urine.
Recommendation:
Customers: If a local brings you somewhere, follow their recommendation.
Business owner: Support local business, yes! BUT entrepreneurs must work that much harder to keep customers coming back as well as engage new customers. This requires GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE, a quality product, and a pleasant dining experience. Chain restaurants standardize these values which is why they are successful (along with a huge marketing budget)!
In the meantime, have a server on the floor attending to customers. Bring water with chips amd salsa. And please, do something about the bathroom!

My boyfriend and I came here for dinner. When we walked in no one greatest us or even acknowledged us. After several hello is anyone there, a big Mexican women shows up from the kitchen. We assumed they were short staffed & she was cooking. The place is sticky dirty and everything is old. I’ve never been to Mexico but if it’s this tacky, I’ll never go. I’m sure I saw a roach. It took a really long time to get our food which was cold & bland. There were only 4 people in the place, 3 guys & me. At 1 point I went to the bathroom and while in there the big girl tried to come in & when the door didn’t open (I had locked it with a cheap lock), she pulls until she rips it open while I’m on the toilet. Oh the embarrassment. I received no apology from anyone. Not even a discount or anything. I’d give them a no star but that’s not available. Never again.

I want to live guacamole and this spot has made me love it! I now crave to go here. My sister & I decided to try it a couple weeks ago because it’s right by our house. They have amazing nachos & margaritas.

Tucker’s best kept secret! We love Tapatio! We always have great service (the speed just depends on the volume). Everyone is super friendly. We love the salsa and the cheese dip. Between my boyfriend and I we’ve probably tried everything on the menu — I love the potato quesadilla, chimichanga, fajitas, taco salad, burrito mexicana, chicken soup, tamales — and we can honestly say we’ve never had a bad meal. I hate that one bad health score in 25+ years of business holds this place back. Skip Dos Hermanos and get the goods here!

I thought we had stepped into Mexico when we entered. The place is shabby and in need of serious repairs. It irks the crap out of me when there is a blaring television with no viewers. It also drives me crazy when I am served chips and salsa with no water. The salsa was very good, but it was quite hot.
Our chatty server was busy socializing, so we couldn’t get her attention. She finally came over and took our drink order. She then went back to socializing so long that the cook brought our tea and coke after some time.
I ordered Huevos Rancheros and my SO ordered the Speedy Gonzalez (I believe it included a taco, enchilada and rice). My order came with two eggs over easy, beans, rice and flour tortillas. I much prefer corn tortillas, but I didn’t think to ask if they have them. My food was so bland. The refried beans and the rice had no flavor. I loaded my food with salsa and it was much better. My boyfriend said that his food was just okay.
The only thing I can say about the bathroom is that they are quite a bit better than those in India. At least they have a toilet, a sink, toilet paper and a hand dryer that was probably installed in the 60’s or 70’s. Just dry your hands on your clothes or you’ll spend forever drying your hands. They did have a paper towel dispenser, but there were no paper towels.
Honestly, I feel terrible for giving this place two stars. Obviously, they have a lot of regulars. I’m giving the restaurant 2 stars for friendliness and 1 star for the food, since the food wasn’t horrible.

This is definitely not a place I’ll be going back to. My fiancée and I went and ordered a pitcher of Dos Equis and started perusing the menu. After waiting for a while, but not ridiculously long, we were told they were out. So we ordered a couple of bottles and some cheese dip.
The salsa was bland, little more than tomato sauce with very little other flavoring. I like it to at least have some flavor whether it’s spicy or not. Frankly, I’ve had better canned salsa, and I am NOT a fan of prepackaged grocery store salsa. The chips were nicely crispy but tasted like they hadn’t changed the oil in the fryer for at least a month.
The cheese dip was absolutely the worst I’ve had since I made the horrible mistake of trying the artificial plastic stuff labeled as cheese dip at Dollar Tree a few years back. We just couldn’t bring ourselves to order anything more so we paid our check and left.
And to cap it off, I woke up in the middle of the night with stomach bile rushing up my throat. I don’t know whether it might have been unwashed limes, something in the salsa or cheese dip, unclean dishes or what… but it certainly reinforced my decision to never go back there again.

Our neighbors need you!
El Tapatio once was packed with patrons, but just one time they got a low score, word got out and what was a thriving business had dwindled to only a few loyal customers. Only a few, like myself, didn’t give– up on them and saw that their NEW score, of 96 — A.
This is not a BIG chain restaurants but a Tucker family owned and oporated one. One that used to be packed to the gills until. .. Now I go and only a hand full of tables are in use.
They have worked hard to get a Great rating back but it has not gotten out to their customers. Like I said these are our Tucker friends and your neighbors. it iis truly a famly run business with the father at the head, followed by his wife, daughters and others working for the American dream with the same Smiling faces, Great service and especially Great Food. Come on Tucker Keep this small businesses around for a long time — give our business to them — and let’s pack out El Tapatio once again!

Sticky tables, most of which were yet to be wiped down or bussed. Waited 10 min for the waitress to take my order. Salsa is bland at best. Food is mediocre. Tried 3 different salt shakers before I found one that didn’t have just one block of salt caked at the bottom. Pass.

LOVE.LOVE.LOVE the fajitas at El Tap! Plus the chips and salsa are some of the best I’ve ever had. All around best Mex food I’ve had since moving to Atlanta last year!

Wow this place has really gotten pretty bad.
Went tonight and the staff has changed entirely.
Our waitress lumbered through the place and with each step I thought the floor would give. Not sure if she was really angry or just walked heavily.
The table we selected must be near some sort of a leak as mold smell was prevalent.
The couple next to us was complaining about how slow the service was, we should have left.
We sat and waited for the waitress to grace us with her presence which was a while. We ordered our usual ½ pitcher of margaritas and 2 glasses no salt we got a full pitcher with salted glasses… does anyone pay attention anymore… anywhere?
Next came our order. The waitress asked us if we wanted more chips, I told her a napkin and silverware would be better, she was NOT amused.
Food was so salty it was not enjoyable.
We did not wait for the waitress to show herself again we waited to pay at the cash register. While we were being rung up I asked what had recently changed. After thinking for a minute she replied «the staff». That explained it all.
Shame we won’t be returning… it was that unpleasant.

My favorite Mexican restaurant. Wonderful people, good food. We’ve been coming here for years, and will continue for years to come.

Tucker’s iconic Mexican restaurant… Been here forever. Nothing fancy but they’ll provide what you expect for a suburban Mex restaurant in a converted old house atmosphere. Dined with them for decades. Still enjoy the staff and food.

I’ve been coming to this place since my Spanish club in high school came here for dinner one day, and that was nearly 20 years ago. My family has been eating there every since, sometimes twice a week. Nowadays, we go at least once a week and the waiters know us and when they see us walk in, they immediately bring out drinks and cheese dip without asking what we want. That’s what I call good service!
On to the food — there’s nothing really special or gourmet here, it’s basically simple Mexican food at it’s best. I’ve had a lot of stuff that I like here — burritos, tacos, quesadillas, nachos, enchiladas, fajitas, and it’s all good. The cheese dip is probably my favorite thing and their house salsa is the bomb and not spicy (which suits my taste). I usually get one of the combos, depending on how hungry I am and they all come with refried beans and Spanish rice and are very well-​priced (around $ 6).
The staff is very attentive and nice and do their best to take care of you. I’ve come to know one of the guys who has been working there forever and he’s even given me a couple of the pictures hanging on the wall to take home when my Mom said she liked them (she has a Southwestern motif going on in the bathroom and a couple pictures from there now hang in there).

I have been eating at this place since long before I was old enough to get there on my own and I had to beg my dad to take us there even when he wasn’t in the mood for mexican. I love the fact that in all the time I have been going there the food is consistently as good as it always has been.
The place is a little bit of a dive (used to be a house) and it’s true, there is a bathtub in the mens room.lol. Either way though the people that work there are friendly and I know I can always get a fast bite there for cheap. It isn’t glamorous and there is nothing spectacular about the food. It is what it is. They make a pretty good margarita and only charge $ 3.50 for a corona so between that and some decent taco’s and salsa I’m happy. i don’t recall ever having a bad meal at the place.
Recently they made some renovations and replaced the tv and repainted and redid all the lighting but aside from that it’s the same as it ever has been as long as I can remember going there and I hope that other than cosmetics it never changes. I love this place! The only reason for 4 stars and not 5 is that it’s just cheap food and there is nothing that jumps off the menu that is unique to them and from time to time I’ve also caught some rather «unique» smells wafting about. You get the basics and you though get them consistently good. Don’t go looking for «gourmet» there because that isn’t what they’re about.

This is a great place to get a quick bite and then fill in the rest of your belly with delicious, brain-​freezing margaritas.
The service is pretty good. You can even customize your order. I didn’t see anything new on the menu, so I just ordered something totally new, and surprisingly it worked.
As for the negatives, there is a TV, and its usually tuned to soccer or some other more annoying sport. Also, the bathroom is a place you should avoid.

Their homemade Horchata was the about the best I have ever tried. Unfortunately, my server was very quick to refill my glass, so I ended up drinking three of these things. And this is less than two days after I swore I would quit ordering these. Just go ahead and sign me up for diabetes treatment.
I spent a long time looking at the menu and decided I wasn’t enjoying the dining area very much. When I inquired about the mole (rojo), I was given a sample to try, but it was overpoweringly spicy and not much else. I finally settled on some tacos, but I had to «special» request corn tortillas and cilantro and onions. Not a good sign… I am worried.
The tacos came out very hot, and I immediately was thinking «overcooked.» The carnitas taco was very good, with succulent meat that was both crisp and moist. The Asada taco was not memorable and a little on the dry side. I could not finish the chorizo taco due to the excessive saltiness. The tortillas were double wrapped and held together just fine but were not made from scratch. Somehow all of this including tax/​tip came to $ 12.59.
I give them three stars just because these people are so nice and maybe I ordered the wrong thing. My first thought was to go with the shrimp cocktail… first thought, best thought.

El Tap, as I affectionately refer to it, is Tucker’s stand-​by Mexican place. I don’t know exactly how long it’s been in that little white house, but it seems like it’s been a hundred years. It’s not a fancy place — but it’s consistent, and I hold more stock in consistently average food, than occasionally great (but generally bland) food.
El Tap is a family place — babies, kids, teens, mothers, fathers, grandparents… It doesn’t matter how old or young you are — you will find something on the menu that you like, and you will feel like you belong. Staffers are polite, eager to please, thoughtful, mindful of your drink-​situation, and just all-​around good people.

Good food and service. Family oriented and although busy at times, the wait is never long if at all.